In 2014 Daniel Ricciardo was the only driver other than the occupant of a Mercedes to see the view from the top of the podium but after the first official test of 2015, his best aggregate time at Jerez, Spain was good for only 12th overall.

Ricciardo's new team mate Daniil Kvyat fared even worse in the camouflaged RB11, out-paced only by the stuttering McLaren-Hondas.

'DIFFICULT TO JUDGE'

Reliability was also a weakness for Red Bull at Jerez; even the initially absent Lotus eventually managed more laps than did the former champion team. Combined, Ricciardo and Kvyat put only 166 laps on the RB11's odometer; the dominant Mercedes crew racked up 516.

Williams technical boss Pat Symonds, interviewed by Germany's Auto Motor and Sport, agreed that Mercedes was still No.1 with Williams and Ferrari neck-and-neck for second.

The big unknown, Symonds agreed, was Red Bull: "The team has run so little that it is difficult to judge it. We (Williams) are where we wanted to be.

"It does look as though Mercedes is keeping the handbrake on at the moment but Ferrari has apparently made a good jump."

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